inflatable friends

I will always remember the summer that Mae was born as the year of Pokemon Go. There’s not much to do with a newborn other than go for walks, so I would spend hours wandering around the neighborhood collecting Pokemon. This year, with a newborn and a pandemic, the lonnnng walk has again become an essential part of our routine. I try to think of a fun destination each day, which isn’t too hard since we can easily walk to several playgrounds, a creek, some trails, some hidden paths, and even a building with a giant fish tank in the window. We’ve expanded our walking distance to 3 miles round trip, so now we can make it to the library! We just finished returned “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and now have a book called “No, No, Kitten” that Mae can’t get through without having a massive giggle fit.

Mae was excited for our walks all through the month of October. Not only did we have tons of crisp, sunny fall days, we also made friends with all the neighborhood Halloween inflatables. She would have long “conversations” with the decorations while Dan or I provided a silly voice for them.

The tall, spooky pumpkin head is usually the first inflatable we stop to talk to on our walks. His voice is a bit gruff, but he's very chatty. Mae usually gives him an update on all her exciting life events: upcoming visits from grandma, recent outings to the library, and what items in the house Colin has managed to pee/poop/barf on.

Next, we walk to the inflatable we have lovingly named "the YMCA ghost" since he looks like he's making a big "Y" with his arms. This guy only wants to talk about food. Mae tells him about what she ate, and he always asks for us to bring him something (banana muffin, hot dog, etc.)

Further down the street, we meet up with the giant spider (who sounds a bit like Boris from Rocky and Bullwinkle). He's usually our longest conversation of the walk. I wonder what the neighbors think about us?

Happy Pumpkin greets us at the end of the street. She has a squeaky, cheery voice but rarely has much to say other than wishing us a wonderful day.

Sometimes on the way back home, we pass by the ghoul with big claws. He likes to brag about his fancy red manicure.

And lastly, we bumped into this pair of eyeballs on a particularly long walk away from our normal route. They didn't have much to say. They just stared at us.

Not pictured: the top-hat-wearing pumpkin with a very posh British accent and the Dia de los Muertos unicorn with whom we practice our very limited Spanish.

We went out for a short family walk the Sunday morning after Halloween. GranE and Batman had just left after an almost week long visit. All the inflatables were crumpled in a deflated heap on the ground, waiting to be packed away until next October. Mae was coming down off a candy high from the night before. It was all just too much. She cried and cried. The Christmas decorations can't come out soon enough.